Timothy Herring Jr. has been charged with two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of Chicago Police Officer Michael Flisk, 46, and Stephen Peters, a 44-year-old retired Chicago Housing Authority and south suburban police officer.

“What was done to Officer Michael Flisk and Stephen Peters was outside the realm of comprehension,” said Weis. Law enforcement and community became one. Together, we worked to uncover evil.”

Weis and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez says it was that collaboration – and Herring’s mouth – that led investigators to him.

They say Herring told people he committed the murders Friday in the alley behind his home.

Prosecutors say Herring even walked up to the victims, as Flisk processed the garage burglary scene, and told them he knew who did it.

Prosecutors say after Peters told Herring they had fingerprints, Herring walked away, then turned around, pulled out a gun and shot them both in the head.

Alvarez says he didn’t stop there.

“He shot them once, and then noticed that Mr. Peters was still moving and went back up and shot Mr. Peters again, and shot Officer Flisk again,” said Alvarez. “There’s evidence of close range fire.”

Alvarez says over the next 24 hours, as cops canvassed the area, Herring put the gun, his recently cut braids and his coat in a box, and eventually passed it over to the second suspect: Timothy Willis, 22.

Timothy Willis (Chicago Police Department)

Willis, of the 8300 block of South Crandon, was charged Monday with obstruction of justice and unlawful possession of a firearm.

All of this happened while Herring was out on parole, and five months after he was considered the prime suspect in another shooting. So why wasn’t Herring already facing charges in that case?

“He was identified at that time as being the offender in that case,” said Alvarez. “However the victim in that case was fearful of proceeding on it.”

Alvarez says the bullets from Friday’s murders matched the bullets from that June shooting. Detectives also have Herring’s fingerprints from the garage, but they don’t have the gun.

“The weapon has not been recovered,” said Alvarez.

Herring was sentenced to six years behind bars for an armed robbery in 2007 but was released in April on parole. He was locked up again in July after testing positive for marijuana, according to Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sharyn Elman.

On Sept. 14, Herring was freed again to his home, across the alley from Friday’s murder scene, records show. Herring allegedly committed the murders while under electronic monitoring.

A Department of Corrections spokesperson would only say any evidence of Herring moving out of his designated area without permission would result in a system alert. She wouldn’t say if an alert went off.